Power transmission for material handling machines



Dec. 25, 1956 D. M. SCHWARTZ ETAL 2,775,138

POWER TRANSMISSION FOR MATERIAL HANDLING MACHINES Original Filed-Oct.24, 1950 5 Sheets-Sheet l ZNVENTOR DANIEL M. SCHWARTZ 8 THEODORE N.HAQKETT ATTORNEY S D 1956 D. M. SCHWARTZ ETAL 2,775138 POWERTRANSMISSION FOR MATERIAL HANDLING MACHINES Original Filed Oct. 24, 19503 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR DANIEL M. SCHWARTZ & THEODORE N. HACKETTATTORNE Y Dec. 25, 1956 D. M- SCHWARTZ ET AL Original Filed Oct. 24 19503 SheetsSheet 3 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O o o o o o o o \I" I lH 55 22 52 I 36 I V a 37 48 i 39 L 57 43 o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 3856 4s 0 Q 45 I 49 42 H I 54 47 65 o o o o o o o 67 5a 51 73 l II l l so56 l o o o 0 00 0 59 I \ll IWITIWHH INVENTOR DANIEL M. SCHWARTZ 8.THEODORE N. HACKETT ATTORNEYS United States Patent POWER TRANSMISSIONFOR 1 HANDLING MACHINES.

Daniel M. Schwartz and Theodore N. Hackett, Salt Lake City, Utah,assignors to The Eimco Corporation, Salt Lake City, Utah, a corporationof Utah Original application October 24, 1950, Serial No. 191,808.Divided and this application December 14, 1951, Serial 3 Claims. (Cl.74-606) This invention relates to power transmitting means and inparticular to a power transmitting gear train.

It is a principal object of the invention to provide a gear drivemechanism of economical construction in that while maintainingoil-tightness and accuracy of the assembly, it allows line boring of thegear case for each drive unit of the gear train.

In general, the invention comprises in combination with a powertransmitting gear train, including a drive shaft and a driven shaft,interconnecting gear means on the shafts; a gear housing having integralbottom, top and end walls, bearing means provided on a wall of thehousing for supporting one end of the shafts, openings in the oppositewall corresponding to the bearing means, removable covers over saidopenings secured to said opposite wall, and means for rotatablysupporting the other end of the shafts on said covers.

This application is a division of application Serial No. 191,808, filedOctober 24, 1950. Related subject matter is disclosed and claimed in thefollowing applications: Serial No. 261,834, filed December 14, 1951;Serial No. 230,365, filed June 7, 1951; Serial No. 228,082, filed May24, 1951; Serial No. 191,807, filed October 24, 1950.

The invention will be more particularly described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a fluid pressure reservoirembodying one form of the power transmission of the invention;

Fig. 2 is the other side of the structure shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 1 with a portionbroken away substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 showing structuraldetails of the crawler gear train; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view substantially on line 4-4 of a portion ofFig. 1 showing structural details of the crawler drive.

With reference to the drawings, drive units 20 and 21 are positioned oneach side of a cast hydraulic reservoir 19. Each drive unit is adaptedto drive an endless chain type crawler not shown in the drawings, andhas an independent fiuid pressure operated motor, 22 and 23, and anindependent gear train.

Each crawler gear train comprises a motor driven pinion assembly 35, afirst intermediate gear assembly 36, a second intermediate gear assembly37, and a sprocket shaft assembly 38.

Motor driven pinion assembly 35 comprises crawler drive motor mount 39,motor drive shaft 41, pinion shaft 40, gear 42, and inboard and outboardbearings 43 and 44.

The first intermediate gear assembly 36 comprises gears 45 and 46, shaft47, and inboard and outboard bearings 48 and 49.

Shaft 50 of the second intermediate assembly 37 rotates in bearings 51and 52 and is provided with gears 53 and 54, and a brake drum 55.

Sprocket shaft assembly 38 comprises shaft 56, housed in bearings 57 and58, gear 59 and sprocket 60 the teeth z of which engage the under sideof the endless crawler chain or track.

Thus the crawler motor drives the endless track 61 through gearassemblies 42, 45, 46, 53, 54, 59, and sprocket 60. An identical geartrain provided on the other side of the hydraulic reservoir 19 drivesthe other endless crawler track.

In order to facilitate assemblage of the crawler drive mechanism, tosimplify repairs and construction, and to provide an oil tight seal andmeans to compensate for wear of the bearings, each drive unit isassembled from its side of the reservoir 19. This is accomplished byproviding each gear assembly of the gear train with its own bore. Thesebores are designated 63, 64, 65 and 66 for gear assemblies 35, 36, 37and 38, respectively. All gear assemblies except the motor pinionassembly 35 are placed in their respective bores through bore 66. Motorpinion assembly is placed through bore 63. As more clearly shown in Fig.1 of the drawings bore 66 intersects the bore 65 of the secondintermediate shaft assembly 37 in order to allow insertion of gears 59,53 and 45 without the necessity of a split gear housing. A single coverplate 67, provided with bearing clearance holes 68 and 69 for bearing 58and 51, fits ac curately in bore 66 to provide accurate alignment of thebearings of gear assembly 38. This cover plate 67 provides an effectiveoil seal for both bores 65 and 66 and is bolted on the peripheralsurface of the two bores, a surface which is in one plane and machinedin one operation. Bearing cover plate 70 is secured to clearance hole 68in cover plate 67. Bearing cover plate 71 also bolts onto cover plate67; however, the bore 69 in cover plate 67 is larger than the bore 65 inthe crawler drive housing, thus bearing plate 71 fits loosely in bore 69but snugly in bore 65 and the gear center of the second intermediateassembly 37 is accurately located and held. Bearing cover plates 72 and73 for shafts 40 and 47 are independent and are secured to bores 63 and64. It will be seen that this assembly is of a very economicalconstruction, in that, while maintaining accuracy and oil-tightness, itallows line boring of the gear case for each shaft assembly.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the inventionprovides an improved power transmission device whereby the aims, objectsand advantages are fully accomplished.

We claim:

1. A power transmitting mechanism including two shafts on fixed centers,a housing for said shafts, intersecting openings in a wall of saidhousing corresponding to each of the shaft centers, each of the openingsbeing con-' centric with its corresponding shaft, a removable cover forsaid openings, said cover adapted to fit snugly in one of theintersecting openings in the wall, bearing means supported by said coverfor one end of the shaft corresponding to said one of the intersectingopenings, second bearing means for one end of the shaft corresponding tothe other of said intersecting openings, a support for said secondbearing means adapted to fit snugly in the said other of saidintersecting openings, and means supporting the other ends of each ofsaid shafts.

2. A power transmitting mechanism including two shafts on fixed centers,a housing for said shafts, bearing means provided on a wall of thehousing supporting one end of each of the shafts, intersecting openingsin the opposite wall corresponding to the bearing means, each of saidopenings in said opposite wall being concentric with its correspondingshaft, a removable cover plate over said intersecting openings securedto said opposite wall, said removable cover plate adapted to snugly fitone of said openings in said opposite wall, openings in said cover platecorresponding to the bearing means, one of said openings in said coverplate corresponding to the other of said openings in said opposite wallbeing larger than said other of said openings in the opposite wall, andmeans for rotatably supporting the other end of each of the shaftssecured to thei coverplate openings.

the opening in said opposite wall corresponding to the first shaft,means supporting the other end of said first shaft in said cover plate,an opening in said cover plate corresponding to and larger than theremaining opening in said opposite wall, and cover means securable tosaid cover plate for supporting the other end of said second shaft insaid remaining opening in said opposite wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS695,562 Keating Mar. 18,1902

1,143,617 Ehrlich; lune 22, 1915 FOREIGN PATENTS 69,450 Sweden Nov. 5,1928 740,132 France Nov. 12, 1932

